Narrator: Before the shooting begins, there are matters of continuity to attend to.
Narrator: As you may recall, sergeant schlock's weapon, a Strohl Munitions BH-209i plasgun, was disabled during a previous misadventure.
Narrator: Naturally, it would be foolhardy for him to have embarked on this latest mission without the right *ahem* 'carry-on baggage.'
Narrator: Fair reader, behald the Strohl BH-250
Schlock: Well, it's a knock-off. See? No logo.
Narrator: Everybody stand back.
Footnote: Note: With fabber technology available, it is not at all uncommon (and hardly suprising) for popular items like the trusty Strohl Munitions BH-series "Big Handguns" to be knocked off by scam artists trying to make a quick buck. It IS, however, uncommon for the knock-offs to be as good as the real thing. After all, in the galactic marketplace, anything worth making well is worth making LOTS of, so typically the brand-name manufacturers can make the genuine article for less than anyone else can. Thus the importance of (and the legislation governing the use of) the logo. Sure, it's easy to manufacture a convincing logo right along with the rest of the item, but do you really want a weapons manufacturer upset at you for cutting in on their business? Some of their biggest customers may actually volunteer to help them track you down, lest your lower-quality gear fall into friendly hands and get someone hurt. Naturally, none of this applies to Schlock's new weapon. Petey fabbed it for him, and 'cutting costs' was not on the agenda. Petey COULD have fabbed a logo to go right along with it, but he's a law-abiding warship (mostly), and figured Schlock would be just as happy without the logo as with the logo. If Schlock looks unhappy in the fourth panel, it's because he hasn't had a chance to FIRE the BH-250 yet. Once he's strapped it on and cut it loose he'll lose track of his 'logo-angst' in a euphoric orgy of plasmariffic destruction. Addendum to note: The phrase "euphoric orgy of plasmariffic destruction" was plagiarized from the Strohl catalog, and appears on this site without permission. If they come looking for me, I was never here.